Curry Leaves Dosa

Reading the contributions from the fellow Indian bloggers about spices from Mythili’s “Mistress of Spices” I was amazed to know so many things and started appreciating the value of spices in the quality of our everyday food and life. No wonder Ayurveda also celebrates the importance of spices and their combinations that balances our taste palette with different flavour and aroma in a healthy way. In my attempt to explore the precious spices and a recipe for Nandita’s Weekend Breakfast blog event, the first thing that flashed my memory is the curry leaves dosa my mom used to prepare. Right from the moment you start preparing the batter you could smell the sweet aroma of the curry leaves, which will linger in your mind throughout the day.

This dosa with the fresh young tender curry leaves bursts with full of flavour and aroma. Unlike other dosas this can be relished immediately after grinding.

Ingredients:

Raw Rice – 1 cup

Parboiled Rice – 1 cup

Preferably young tender Curry Leaves – 1 cup (Can be increased up to 2 cups depending upon the intensity of curry leaves flavour you like)

Red chillies – 6

Black peppercorns – ½ tsp

Salt as per taste.

 

Method:

Step 1:

Wash and soak rice together for 2-3 hrs in luke warm H₂O.

Grind together with young curry leaves, red chillies and black

peppercorns to dosa batter consistency.

 

Step 2:

Mix salt and pour like rava dosa starting from outside towards the center.

A dosa pan with curved bottom will be more convenient.

Flip over and fry till both the sides are done.

You can gobble up this green dosa with spicy red molagapodi or coconut chutney.

Note: My mom suggests fermenting, for softer and tastier dosa

For medicinal values of the curry leaves and general information check out Sumitha’s article for Mistress of Spices event..

And if you are more interested and want to go a step further and grow your own curry leaf plant ..check out Indira’s article on this deciduous plant and tips to grow them.

 

Mint n Lemon Squash

Squash (sometimes called cordial) is a concentrated, often fruit-based, syrup to which water is added. It is also the name of the resulting drink.

It is common in the United Kingdom and Ireland, especially among toddlers and young children. Typically, squash is created by mixing one part syrup with four or five parts water (depending on concentration of the syrup and personal taste), directly into a glass or mug or into a jug. The most common flavours are: orange; apple and blackcurrant; lemon and lime. Other flavours include peach, strawberry, kiwi fruit and fruits of the forest.

In the West Indies the name “squash” is used to describe a lime juice drink, similar to lemonade.(source:wikipedia)

This squash is quite unique as it uses mint and its unique in its taste too…

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Mint (cleaned,washed and dryed ) – 4 cups

Sugar – 2 cups

Water – 1 cup

Lemon – 2 or 3

Method:

Clean the mint leaves wash and pat them dry thoroughly with paper towel.

Meanwhile heat the sugar and water to form sugar syrup of sticky consistency.

Now add in the chopped (i tore them with hands) mint leaves over the hot syrup. Leave them to cool for about 3-4 hrs till all the mint flavour is infused in the syrup.

Stir in the lemon juice to this syrup and press the leaves with a wooden ladle just to ensure it infuses all its essence to the syrup.

Strain the juice into clean dry bottle and refrigerate.

Serving suggestion:

Mix one part of the syrup with five parts of water/soda water and serve chilled with a lemon slice and quench your thirst.

I am gonna travel to Germany and join Meeta’s Monthly Mingle and “Beat the Heat” with this squash.See you all there friends!

Protein Packed Sundal Pickle

My SH likes sundal in any form. So I learnt this recipe from my grandma to have a special place in his heart. Hope you guys also will have post-engagement-pre-wedding period experiences of learning something to have that ’special’ attention. Hope i would hear lots of experiences and everyone will have a re-cap of those wonderful special times …So before you guys go to dream about it, let me finish telling the recipe…or Never mind..Relish those moments and come back to have a look at what I learnt..

Check your pantry if you have all these sundal varieties..

Large Lima Beans

Small Red Beans

Canary Beans

Chick Peas both White and Black varieties

Yellow-eye Beans

Cranberry Beans

This is what i had in my pantry

but u need not stop if you have Green Peas, Peanuts…go ahead

1. Now measure 1/2 cup of all the varieties you have wash them and soak them overnight in lots of drinking Water.

Then check if you have got nice big fresh lemons say about 6…(Number can vary as per size of the lemon and as per your taste) Chilli powder,Salt,Vegetable oil, Green chillies… that’s it.

2. Steam all the drained beans till they are just soft. Take care that they are not overcooked. U can stop at a point when the sundal has lost its raw smell.

3. In a sufficiently big pan heat 1/4 cup of oil and toss all the steamed beans and slit green chillies (about 4) till everything is covered with a shiny coat of oil.

4. Add salt (about 2 Tbsp),chilli powder (about 3 Tbsp) and lemon juice (about half a cup) and toss well without collapsing the shape of the sundal. (You can scale up or down as per quantity and taste.)

Gently toss the pickle once in two days till it absorbs all the juice and ready to relish.

U’re all set to spice up the curd rice…Upma and for anything that you need a kick….
Refrigerate this pickle in an air-tight container and enjoy it upto a month. Hope this would be a healthy version for all those pickle-lovers.